President Of Honduras Ejected From Game

(Photo: Esteban Felix - Associated Press; LA Times, 6/28/09)
Tires (or bad Egg McMuffins) burn in McDonald's parking lot;
unhappy customer with stick wears ski mask in 90-degree heat,
and single glove on left hand in memory of; well, something.

You wake up, and think you're back in the late 1950's: Apparently, there has been an overnight right-wing military coup in Honduras.

Honduran army troops seized President Manuel Zelaya early today and sent the leftist president into exile in an apparent coup... [Zelaya] said he was rousted from his bed by masked army officers who shouted, fired warning shots and pointed a gun to his chest and head. Still in his pajamas, he said, he was hauled away to an aircraft...

The military action followed days of unrest ahead of a referendum over constitutional reforms scheduled for today. The vote was to ask Hondurans whether they wanted another referendum to change the constitution in a number of ways, including allowing re-election of the president.

Army leaders opposed the vote, which they, Congress and election officials said was illegal. In response, Zelaya last week fired the top military commander and then ignored a Supreme Court order to reinstate him. (Los Angeles Times)

It's tough to tell whether the Honduran army was acting in defense of their country's constitution at the hands of a potential dictator, or whether they'd decided to put an end to the 'Leftist experiment' of Zelaya's presidency, which the referendum might have extended.

Well, that's what happens when you're dealing with a nasty Banana Republic -- Suddenly, there's a bag over your head, and you wake up in a GAP store. At least Zelaya didn't end up "Disappeared", courtesy of a U.S.-trained execution squad, as has so often been the case in Latin America since 1964.

I'm glad we don't live in a nation with revolving governments, where the military will often change presidents for your own good, though I suspect people like Big Rush and Little Mikey Weiner and Little Dick Cheney wish we did.